Due to an explosion in both civilian and military wireless communication, there is a growing need for high speed, reliable, secure, wireless communication of large amounts of data between communicating nodes. It should be noted that the term “wireless” is used throughout this disclosure to refer to any communication that does not depend on a physical link between sender and receiver. Hence, the term “wireless”, as used herein, excludes wired items such as wired fiber optic communication as well as wired communication over copper wires. It is noted that hybrid systems may have at least a portion of the communications that is wireless while other portions are in a wired format.
Traditional communication by wireless radio frequencies suffers from several shortcomings, many of which arise from the wide geographic dispersion of typical radio emissions (e.g. side lobes). Even when directional antennae and antenna arrays are used, radio signals are generally disbursed over large geographic areas, causing rapid attenuation of the signal strengths with distance, and also causing the signals to be relatively easy to intercept by unintended receivers. Due to the geographic overlap of radio communication signals, it is typically necessary to assign radio transmissions to specific frequency bands, which are often in limited supply. Furthermore, it is relatively easy for hostile antagonists to attempt to jam radio communications by transmitting radio signals at high energies that blanket a region of interest.
There are several approaches that attempt to address these problems of wireless radio communications. For example, bandwidth restrictions can be mitigated by opportunistically seeking and using bands that are nominally assigned to other uses, but are not currently in use. Various time and coding schemes can be employed to allow more than one communication link to share the same frequency band. So-called “multi-user” detection can also be employed to further distinguish signals transmitted on overlapping frequencies. The geographic range of wireless signals may also be extended by implementing signal relay nodes within a region of interest.
Security of wireless radio communications can be improved, for example, by employing secure transmission methods such as frequency “hopping,” by adding pseudo-noise to communications, and by encoding communications with sophisticated, virtually impregnable cyphers. The Link 16 protocol is an example of this approach.
Nevertheless, all of these approaches to radio communication include significant disadvantages, such as increased cost and complexity, and message processing overhead that can slow communication and limit data transfer speeds.
Given these limitations, laser communication, or “lasercom,” offers an attractive wireless alternative to radio communication, especially when point-to-point communication is required. Notably, the non-dispersed, extremely directional character of laser communication intrinsically avoids most of the problems that are associated with radio communication. In particular, there is no need to assign frequency bands to lasercom users, because interference between laser signal beams is avoided so long as two beams are not directed to the same recipient. Laser signals are ideally suited to long distance communication in space or at high altitudes because the tight beam results in lower geometric loss at the receive telescope. Communication security is also intrinsically high, as the interception of and interference with laser communications requires direct interception of a laser communication beam and/or focusing jamming beams directly at an intended signal receiver.
One important application that can benefit significantly from lasercom is satellite communications, where line-of-sight access is generally available, and where the communication distances are very great. Lasercom can provide communication data rates for satellites that are much higher than radio data rates, with unmatched anti-jam characteristics and an inherently low risk of communications intercept. Lasercom also eliminates the need for frequency planning and authorization, and circumvents the highly congested RF spectrum bandwidth constraints that limit the practical data rates available to users of RF links.
FIG. 1 depicts a satellite lasercom environment 100. Laser communications can be used for multi-Gbps (Giga-bits per second) connections 105 between space platforms 110, as well as connections 115 between ground-based nodes 120 and space platforms 110, owing to the availability of efficient, multi-watt laser sources and exceedingly high antenna gain, having beam widths of only 10-20 micro-radians and telescope apertures that are only four to eight inches in diameter. Even when much lower data rates of tens to hundreds of mega-bits per second (Mbps) are of interest, lasercom may be desirable due to its inherent Low Probability of Intercept (LPI), Low Probability of Detection (LPD), and anti-jam communications link security.
It should be noted that the disclosure herein is mainly presented with reference to satellite communication. However, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to satellite communication, but also applies to other implementations of laser communication.
Of course, there are certain problems associated with laser communication that arise specifically from the very narrow divergence, extreme directionality, of laser beams. In particular, it is necessary for communicating nodes to identify each other and align their lasers so as to effectively communicate. In the case of satellite lasercom, these identification and alignment problems are especially acute, because laser sources that are well separated by terrestrial standards, for example several miles apart from each other, may nevertheless appear to be almost geographically overlapping from the viewpoint of a satellite. Furthermore, thermal, Doppler, and atmospheric effects can lead to both frequency (wavelength) and angular (apparent location) shifting of an incident laser communication beam, even after it is identified and aligned. The angular vibrational effects, together with other short-term mechanical instabilities of the satellite or other receiving node, are referred to herein collectively as “jitter.”
FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting steps 200 to establish and maintain laser communications. From a general perspective, there are at least four steps to establish and maintain laser communications. First, a candidate light source, referred to herein as a “hot spot,” is identified from within a scene of interest 205. Second, the hot spot is verified as being a communication signal and its transmission source is identified so as to determine if it is a signal of interest (verify it is a beacon or communication beam that meets the Acquisition criteria) 210. Third, the optics of the lasercom receiving system is aligned with the incoming beam (capture or pull-in of the beacon) 215. Finally, once communication has been established, the beam is tracked during communication so that the alignment is maintained and the communication is not interrupted 220.
What is needed is a device, system, and method for a lasercom optical bench Acquisition and Tracking Sensor (ATS) (that also performs a star tracker precision orientation determination function, without the need for a separate star tracker) having a very compact form factor, an opto-mechanical design that enables cost-effective build and alignment, immunity to high-g loads from rocket launch loads and explosive bolt shocks, and ultra-stable on-orbit thermal performance for space production.